Shopping for health care can save you money

The federal government regulates which and what percentage of medical treatments and procedures that insurance companies must cover. Nevertheless, as a health care consumer, you have a lot more control over pricing than you might think.

Shannon Brenneke is a broker at Wall Street Insurance Group of Jefferson City, Missouri, and specializes in individual, Medicare and group benefits. She said consumers rarely price-compare their health care needs.

“Kind of like shopping for anything else, we go onto Amazon and buy, and we shop for those items,” Brenneke said. “For some reason, in health care, we don’t do that. We just do whatever’s easiest, but then we get the bill later, and the bill is extremely high.”

The tendency for a sick or injured patient is to immediately go with the doctor’s planned treatment, even if your insurance might be able to cover more or all of the cost if you schedule the same treatment somewhere else, she said.

“Lab work is going to be the same way,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realize that their health insurance comes with maybe a certain lab that will cover their lab work at 100 percent.”

You have less control, in the event of an emergency, but Brenneke said scrutinizing what counts as an “emergency” can also go a long way in helping to cut costs.

“If you use the urgent care centers, when they are open, for minor things such as a sprained ankle or strep throat, you’re going to save money, the insurance company is going to save money, and it all circles around to the total cost of insurance<" Brenneke said.

Even the day of week you are treated can save you money. When booking a procedure, Mondays and Fridays are the most popular, because they provide time to prepare or recover over the weekend. If it’s an option, you can save money by booking in the middle of the week.

Another way to avoid crippling debt is to avoid charging the cost of medical treatments to a credit card. Ask if you can save money by paying cash, or if you can arrange a payment plan directly with the entity that you owe. That way, you could avoid paying interest altogether.

Visit our RX Central Oregon page for more helpful info, including the top medications prescribed in Oregon and the top in-patient and outpatient procedures performed in our area and their average cost.